PODCAST:
BMX Breakdown:
Richard Mungall –
A Whole New Way of Thinking about
the Economics of BMX
by Mike Hinkens and Richard Mungall
July 17th, 2019
July 17th, 2019
In this edition of the ImprimaturBMX Podcast Mike Hinkens and Richard Mungall are back together discussing the possibility of a huge paradigm shift in the economics of BMX. Starting from the question “What are BMX bike shops really for?” they discuss a new way of thinking about how we spend our money in BMX and, by proxy, how we give our support in BMX. From a model for a co-op style BMX shop/gathering place to the culture of free/discounts, the Mung and Mike lay down some heavy ideas drawn from outside sources that, if put into practice, could allow BMX to evolve yet again as the world around it changes.
Comments
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Andrew Vargason - July 19, 2019
I wanted to respond to the discussion from Episode 29 for a few reasons.
The first reason is that I think a lot of the relatability of your discussion relies on the assumption that we [the listeners] had a bike shop that valued BMX and bike riders in general at one point. This discussion is hard to relate to for a large portion of my life where every bike shop in the area was explicitly unsupportive of BMX. They didn't want anyone there that wasn't actively exchanging money. They didn't want anyone to ask questions. They didn't want you in their store because you rode BMX. This could be seen when someone else walked in the store to buy a road bike, mountain bike, or just a simple comfort bike for riding the local rails-to-trails.
Believing in the shop-local, buy from a local bike shop idea, this was painful. How can we justify buying anything from a place like this? I think this is a perfect place for a mail order to exist and thrive. And it was more difficult as different people worked at the shop I am specifically referring to. Oftentimes, the employees understood the value of a bike shop and the service it provides. But the owner would find out that they were letting people come in the shop and hang out, meet up, and just meet people and would fire the employee for doing so. This shop had many eras of cool people that worked there, but ultimately, any money that was spent there was given to a person the genuinely disliked BMX.
The second thing I wanted to bring up was the skatepark I went to as I got older. It was a shop and park that existed essentially on breaking even. But it was situated in a depressed area with a lot of poor kids trying to ride bikes. So the park ended up with a "used parts" bin that he stocked with any repaired, worn out, or cosmetically damaged parts that were essentially free as long as there was a trade of parts involved. This was such an awesome alternative to the classic shop, which was also in place at the park. And this park was the meet up spot and hang-out. There were countless times that you went down and never rode; you just hung out with your friends. But I always saw what Mung called the guilt, where we were hanging out in the park and the shop all day long, but many people didn't want to pay because they didn't end up riding. I was always able to pay for this regardless, and opted to, because I saw the value in it from an early age. I was also waved off with the "free session" that you spoke of quite often here when I showed up with a crew of dudes. But I always felt like it was wrong and insisted that I could afford to pay at that time, and choose to do so, knowing that there may come a day that I can't afford a session, but may come down to ride anyway. This did end up happening at one point as I was in a tight spot between jobs and I was never once asked for admission in this time. But, as soon as I was able, I was paying to ride again, and paying more than asked, as much as I could at the time. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything with this comment, but I agree with seeing the value, and can ultimately see what you are talking about because I had this park in my life.
The crazy part is that the shop and park I am talking about are about 2 miles apart from one another and the shop was always successful and the park always struggled. This was always frustrating and mind-blowing to me. But without the park, I would likely severely disagree with many of the sentiments provided in this Episode.
The third point I wanted to bring up is that the membership thing does seem to be becoming a reality within BMX. I don't see it is specific BMX shops, but since I moved to Pittsburgh, I have seen a shift in the way that The Wheel Mill structures their business. When I first moved here, it was straight ~$30 a session, every day, no matter how late you showed up. Deriving from some of the conversation above, I always feel like it is important to support you local park in the summer, or they may not be there in the winter. So I would pop in for a session here or there, but rarely less than twice a summer, and many of the people I know going less than that. Eventually they transitioned to 6-month seasonal passes, where for ~$300 you could ride whenever you wanted, as often as you want, from April - October and October -April. This worked well, except that it was often tough for people to come up with $300 all at once and would end up paying $30 over and over instead of buying the pass outright. There was a discount incentive to renew the pass for the following season, but when it came to summer, it was cheaper to cancel and restart than pay $300 for a pass you weren't going to use all at once. They have recently, within the last year, moved to a monthly service, where you pay ~$50 per month for unlimited use. With a thriving scene, and a pass being cheaper than 2 sessions, it is a pretty easy sell. Heck, even someone coming into town for a Friday, Saturday, Sunday is going to pay for a month pass. The price is slightly variable depending on whether you sign up monthly, seasonally, or yearly, but is still billed monthly. I am confident most, if not all the locals, are utilizing the pass, as they also include a shop discount for pass holders. And I suspect that this monthly cashflow allows them to better pay their employees, bills, and rent. On top of that, the occasional family that rolls in four deep and rents 4 bikes and 4 helmets because its their first time are the ones paying the premium pricing and helping to also keep the doors open.
Since The Wheel Mill has adopted this membership format, it has turned into more of a meetup spot where we may warm up there until our friends get there, and then cruise out into Pittsburgh to ride some street. In the meantime, selling snacks, drinks, parts, or whatever while people continually flow in-and-out.
As always, I appreciate the podcasts and interesting topics...
- Andrew
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Andrew Vargason - July 19, 2019
I wanted to respond to the discussion from Episode 29 for a few reasons.
The first reason is that I think a lot of the relatability of your discussion relies on the assumption that we [the listeners] had a bike shop that valued BMX and bike riders in general at one point. This discussion is hard to relate to for a large portion of my life where every bike shop in the area was explicitly unsupportive of BMX. They didn't want anyone there that wasn't actively exchanging money. They didn't want anyone to ask questions. They didn't want you in their store because you rode BMX. This could be seen when someone else walked in the store to buy a road bike, mountain bike, or just a simple comfort bike for riding the local rails-to-trails.
Believing in the shop-local, buy from a local bike shop idea, this was painful. How can we justify buying anything from a place like this? I think this is a perfect place for a mail order to exist and thrive. And it was more difficult as different people worked at the shop I am specifically referring to. Oftentimes, the employees understood the value of a bike shop and the service it provides. But the owner would find out that they were letting people come in the shop and hang out, meet up, and just meet people and would fire the employee for doing so. This shop had many eras of cool people that worked there, but ultimately, any money that was spent there was given to a person the genuinely disliked BMX.
The second thing I wanted to bring up was the skatepark I went to as I got older. It was a shop and park that existed essentially on breaking even. But it was situated in a depressed area with a lot of poor kids trying to ride bikes. So the park ended up with a "used parts" bin that he stocked with any repaired, worn out, or cosmetically damaged parts that were essentially free as long as there was a trade of parts involved. This was such an awesome alternative to the classic shop, which was also in place at the park. And this park was the meet up spot and hang-out. There were countless times that you went down and never rode; you just hung out with your friends. But I always saw what Mung called the guilt, where we were hanging out in the park and the shop all day long, but many people didn't want to pay because they didn't end up riding. I was always able to pay for this regardless, and opted to, because I saw the value in it from an early age. I was also waved off with the "free session" that you spoke of quite often here when I showed up with a crew of dudes. But I always felt like it was wrong and insisted that I could afford to pay at that time, and choose to do so, knowing that there may come a day that I can't afford a session, but may come down to ride anyway. This did end up happening at one point as I was in a tight spot between jobs and I was never once asked for admission in this time. But, as soon as I was able, I was paying to ride again, and paying more than asked, as much as I could at the time. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or anything with this comment, but I agree with seeing the value, and can ultimately see what you are talking about because I had this park in my life.
The crazy part is that the shop and park I am talking about are about 2 miles apart from one another and the shop was always successful and the park always struggled. This was always frustrating and mind-blowing to me. But without the park, I would likely severely disagree with many of the sentiments provided in this Episode.
The third point I wanted to bring up is that the membership thing does seem to be becoming a reality within BMX. I don't see it is specific BMX shops, but since I moved to Pittsburgh, I have seen a shift in the way that The Wheel Mill structures their business. When I first moved here, it was straight ~$30 a session, every day, no matter how late you showed up. Deriving from some of the conversation above, I always feel like it is important to support you local park in the summer, or they may not be there in the winter. So I would pop in for a session here or there, but rarely less than twice a summer, and many of the people I know going less than that. Eventually they transitioned to 6-month seasonal passes, where for ~$300 you could ride whenever you wanted, as often as you want, from April - October and October -April. This worked well, except that it was often tough for people to come up with $300 all at once and would end up paying $30 over and over instead of buying the pass outright. There was a discount incentive to renew the pass for the following season, but when it came to summer, it was cheaper to cancel and restart than pay $300 for a pass you weren't going to use all at once. They have recently, within the last year, moved to a monthly service, where you pay ~$50 per month for unlimited use. With a thriving scene, and a pass being cheaper than 2 sessions, it is a pretty easy sell. Heck, even someone coming into town for a Friday, Saturday, Sunday is going to pay for a month pass. The price is slightly variable depending on whether you sign up monthly, seasonally, or yearly, but is still billed monthly. I am confident most, if not all the locals, are utilizing the pass, as they also include a shop discount for pass holders. And I suspect that this monthly cashflow allows them to better pay their employees, bills, and rent. On top of that, the occasional family that rolls in four deep and rents 4 bikes and 4 helmets because its their first time are the ones paying the premium pricing and helping to also keep the doors open.
Since The Wheel Mill has adopted this membership format, it has turned into more of a meetup spot where we may warm up there until our friends get there, and then cruise out into Pittsburgh to ride some street. In the meantime, selling snacks, drinks, parts, or whatever while people continually flow in-and-out.
As always, I appreciate the podcasts and interesting topics...
- Andrew